Jean-François Piège is a renowned French chef who’s become a household name in France from being on the jury of the French edition of the Top Chef television show.
I don’t watch much television, and zero reality television, but I’ve long admired Piège and the stellar career he’s built in the gastronomic arena, working under the likes of Christian Constant and Alain Ducasse, earning Michelin stars at the Plaza Athénée and the Crillon, helping to relaunch the Thoumieux brand with a brasserie, a hotel, and a pâtisserie, and venturing out on his own in recent years to open Clover and Le Grand Restaurant, which has two Michelin stars.
He’s definitely an awe-inspiring chef, but I also like to imagine his days as a boy near Valence, and the childhood cake little Jean-François liked to eat then. I happen to have the recipe, you see, because I clipped it from the French ELLE magazine years ago, and have been baking it on a regular basis ever since.
